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Patented Nov. I5, I898.

F. A. EMEBICK & H. CRALEY. COMBINED SAFETYv LOCKING, TILTING, AND SHIPPING CRATE.

2 Sheets-Sheet I.

(Application filed July 26, 1898.)

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(Lliplication filed July 26, 1898.) I

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I NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERICK A. EMERICK AND HENRY ORALEY, OF OSWEGO, NEV YORK, ASSIG-NORS TO THE STANDARD OIL COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

COMBINED SAFETY LOCKING, TILTING, AND SHIPPING CRATE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 614,205, dated November 15, 1898.

Application filed July 26, 1898- To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, FREDERICK A. EM- ERICK and HENRY CRALEY, citizens of the United States, and residents of Oswego, in the county of Oswego and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Combined Safety Locking, Tilting, and Shipping Crate, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improvement in crates for bottles, demijohns, carboys, and the like, and has special reference to a combined safety locking, tilting, and shipping crate.

The object of the invention is the construction of a crate for the above-named purposewhich shall give perfect protection to the contents during shipment and which shall be readily convertible into a tilting crate when it reaches the destination, and which withal shall be simple in construction and operation.

Heretofore boxes or cases for cans have been constructed in a manner such that the portion serving as a cover during shipment may serve as a pedestal on which to tilt the body of the box or case when emptying the contents of the can contained therein. In the present invention this idea is carried out in connection with a crate.

The invention consists in the construction and combination of parts forming the improved crate, substantially as hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification, Figure 1 represents in perspective a crate embodying our invention locked and ready for shipment. Fig. 2 represents in like manner the crate opened and mounted for tilting. Fig. 3 represents in side elevation the body of another form of crate to which our improvement is especially well adapted. A demijohn is represented in this crate. .Fig. 3 is a horizontal section through the crate seen in Fig. 3, it being taken on the plane indicated by the line a a; and Fig. 4 represents in side elevation the convertible cover of the improved crate.

The body portion of the crate consists of the COIDGIePOSlES 5, the upper horizontal side rails 6, the horizontal rails 7, located about midway together;

Serial No. 686,901. (No model.)

of the length of the corner-posts, and the bottom 8.

The cover to the crate is represented at 9, and in position as shown in 'Fig. 1 it rests upon the upper ends of the corner-posts, while its sides extend nearly down to the rails 6. The cover may be held in place upon the crate in any suitable way, as by means of the hasps 10, secured thereto andtaking o'ver hooks 11, pivoted upon opposite side rails 6.

To convert the cover into a pedestal upon which to tilt the crate when emptying the contents of the bottle or carboy carried therein, uprights, as 12, may be secured thereto, as indicated, which when the cover is open will extend downwardly along the sides of the crate, as shown in Fig. 1. In the free ends of these uprights are mounted suitable pins or studs, as 13, serving as journals upon which to tilt the crate. The bearings for these studs are preferably formed in the middle of the lower edge of two opposite intermediate side rails 7, as indicated at 14. These notches are laterally formed at their upper end into a mushroom shape to provide for tilting the crate in either direction and at the same time preventing the crate from slipping off the studs or journals when tilted. These notches may be extended laterally in but one direction, if desired.

Fig. 2 shows the crate mounted upon its pedestal in position for tilting. The pins 13 are then in place within the notches 14:. When the cover is upon the crate, these pins are at some distance below the notches, as shown, and to assist the pins in entering the notches when the crate is opened and placed in position for tilting suitable guides are formed as extensions of the notches 14-for instance, as by inserting a pair of rods 15 in the edges of the rails 7 and the side pieces of the bottom. These guides may be formed in any other suitable way or may be omitted alassistance in converting the cover into the pedestal and mounting the crate thereon, since to do this it is necessary only to unlock the cover by the manipulation of the hooks 11 and hasps 10, raise it off the post 5, lay it over upon the floor, and then take hold of the They are, however, of considerable,

crate, lift it up, and set it over onto the pedestal, the guides 15 readily directing the pins into the notches.

Any style of crate for the use herein specified may be readily provided with a convertible cover and pedestal substantially such as described; but it is best adapted to those crates wherein a portion of the protection afforded the contained bottle or demijohn consists of rails or cleats located between or upon the inner sides or angles of the corner-posts, substantially as indicated at 16 and 17 in Figs. 3 and 8 and an example of which forms the subject of application for Letters Patent filed by F. A. Emerick on April 9, 1898, under Serial No. 676,983. Said inner cleats serve as resilient lateral supports for the bottle 0r demijohn.

As above stated, this style of crate is especially well adapted for the present purpose because the guides 15 and the studs 13 may then be placed within the outline of the crate and will not be interfered with by side rails, which in most crates would occupy the space between therails 7 and the side pieces of the bottom 8.

Many changes aside from those above suggested may be made in the embodiment of our invention with departing from the spirit thereof.

The invention claimed is 1. A shipping-crate for bottles, demijohns and the like, consisting of the body portion of the crate having its corner-posts projecting above the upper side rails, and having two opposite intermediate side rails provided with mushroom-shaped notches 14, at the middle of their lower edges, guides extending downwardly from said notches, and a convertible cover and pedestal fitted to the projecting posts and having uprights 12, on opposite sides each bearing in its free end a stud fitted to one of said notches and to the accompanying guide, and suitable fastening devices, such as the latches 10, 11, for securing the cover in place, substantially as shown and described.

2. The combination with a crate having its lower rails separated some distance from the bottom of the crate and having protecting strips or cleats located at the space so left but on the inner faces or angles of the cornerposts, of vertical guides extending between opposite ones of said rails and the bottom and leading at their upper ends into notches formed in the lower edges of said rails, and a convertible cover and pedestal having uprights on two opposite sides provided at their free ends with studs adapted to fit in said guides and to act in said notches as journals upon which to tilt the crate, substantially as set forth.

Signed at Oswego, in the county of Oswego and State of New York, this 15th day of July, A. D. 1898.

FREDERICK A. EMERICK. HENRY ORALEY. Witnesses:

JOHN J. BARRETT, C. S. BARRETT. 

